180 TYPES OF BRITISH PLANTS 
small clusters underneath the leaves, and need some 
finding. 
A pleasant contrast to this maligned and insignificant 
flower is given by our next example, the Sea Holly, which 
at first sight does not seem to belong to this order at all, 
but rather to hanker after the thistle group. The flowers 
are blue, alone in the order, and the 
stalks have almost disappeared, 
crowding the head very closely to- 
gether; but if you examine the 
flowers carefully, you will find that 
the petals are not in a tube, and 
that they really have a short stalk. 
The leaves have also followed the 
thistle pattern, and are extremely 
prickly. The favourite home of the 
plant is the sandiest part of the 
sea-shore, of course above high-water 
mark, for it does not care to be 
SEA HOLLY. soaked, and one is puzzled at first 
to think how it can get a living in 
such an arid situation. You will find a partial explanation 
if you try to dig up the plant, roots and all, for you will 
find these roots driving down and down, sometimes for 
several feet, to gather up every scrap of moisture in the 
neighbourhood. Moreover, when the moisture is obtained, 
the roots do not send it all up to the leaves, where the 
sun’s heat might make it evaporate, but store it up in 
their fleshy cellars beneath the surface. 
A third eccentricity is the common Thorow-wax, or 
Hare’s Ear, which you may find on cornfields where the 
soil is very dry, usually on gravel or chalk. We have 
not only abnormal flowers, but also a new kind of leaf, 
